The PhD Pipeline

Deborah E. Trautman PhD, RN, FAANPresident and CEO , AACN January 14, 2020

AACN Trend Data Fall 2018 Annual Survey

» Enrollment Increases Since 2017

» DNP Programs +12.3% » Entry-Level BSN Programs +5.7%» MSN Programs +5.4% » PhD Programs +0.7%» RN to BSN Programs +0.6%

» Survey Response Rate: 88.9%» Learn more at www.aacnnursing.org/data

The PhD in Nursing at a Glance

Source: © American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All Rights Reserved

*As of 2019, there are four PhD/DNP programs.

Growth in Research-FocusedNursing Programs: 2006-2018

103111 116 120 124 126 131 131 134 132 134 136

144

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Number of PhD Programs

PhD Student Race/Ethnicity

Source: © American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All Rights Reserved

PhD Student Gender

Source: © American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All Rights Reserved

Enrollment and Graduations inPhD/DNS Programs: 2005-2018

-

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Enrollments Graduations

Source: © American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All Rights Reserved

Sustaining PhD Enrollments

Challenges

The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers: Breaking Through (2018)

• Gulf between the number of qualified scientists and the elusive opportunities to establish careers

• Belief in long and growing amount of time before researcher can reasonably secure support (ROI)

• Career information currently available focuses almost exclusively on academic careers although majority employment opportunities outside of academia

• Prolonged postdoc positions, low salaries, inadequate training and mentorship, and few opportunities for professional advancement

A Vision for Engagement

The Changing World

• Recommendations to Research Institutions

• Recommendations to Principal Investigators

• Recommendations to NIH

• Recommendations to Policymakers

Sustaining the PhD Pipeline

Continuing The Conversation

“The difficulty lies not so much in generating new ideas, but with escaping

from the old ones.”

John Maynard Keynes

Continuing The Conversation

AACN’s 2020 Nursing Science and Research-Focused Doctorate (PhD) Pre-Conference’s theme is Doctoral Education for 2030: Tailoring Approaches for the Needs of the Profession and Population. Sessions geared to: • Identify opportunities and challenges to research Doctoral education • Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders of Research Doctoral Program• Continuing the Deep Dive Discussion sessions on bringing more students

into PhD programs and careers in nursing science. • Include a cross-sectional invitational focus group of 7-10 attendees from

high enrollment and graduation PhD Programs representing all four type of member schools.

Continuing The Conversation

AACN Connect launched the PhD Pipeline Community on September 8, 2019 to coincide with the start of the fall semester.

This online community seeks membership engagement on challenges and opportunities germane to students, faculty, and programs conferring the research-focused doctorate. To date, 32 faculty have joined this discussion group and contributed 25 posts.